Jailed Indian cartoonist freed on bail

Cartoonist Aseem Trivedi calls for reform of colonial-era law on sedition after leaving jail as minister promises to review charges

Indian cartoonist Aseem Trivedi condemns the sedition law after being freed from Mumbai jail on bail, four days after being arrested in a case that has outraged freedom of expression campaigners and anti-corruption activists. Photograph: Punit Paranjpe/AFP/Getty Images

AP in Delhi

Wednesday 12 September 2012 10.30 EDT
First published on Wednesday 12 September 2012 10.30 EDT

Trivedi was arrested on Sunday based on a political activist's complaint that his cartoons insulted the country. The arrest highlighted the government's increased sensitivity to criticism.

A day later, amid protests by free-speech advocates and opposition parties, RR Patel, the home minister of Maharashtra state, said the government would review Trivedi's case.

Trivedi was one of two winners of the 2012 Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award by the US-based Cartoonists Rights Network International. His cartoons mocked corruption among Indian politicians and were displayed at a Mumbai protest in December by the anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare.

In 2010 Indian police sought to charge the Booker Prize winner and social activist Arundhati Roy with sedition for questioning India's claim over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.

Also that year, Binayak Sen, a doctor and activist working with tribal poor in India's Chhattisgarh state, was convicted of sedition and sentenced to life in prison. The local government said Sen used his medical work as a front to support the cause of a Maoist insurgency in that state. He was later released on bail by India's top court and is appealing against his conviction.